Project Description

The Oracle is an $850 million luxury development at Broadbeach on the Gold Coast, Queensland. It features two mixed-use towers—50 and 40 storeys high—set above three basement levels and four podium levels on a 1,200m² site. The towers offer uninterrupted ocean views and are situated just minutes from Oasis Shopping Centre, the Gold Coast Convention Centre, and Jupiters Casino.

The project includes 505 apartments, from one to three bedrooms, and boasts amenities such as high-speed lifts, a water feature, Zen Garden, tai chi lawn, a 25-metre heated lap pool, indoor spa, steam room, sauna, gymnasium, in-house cinema, private wine lockers, executive lounge, and teppanyaki grill.

Added Value

• The twin towers required careful structural planning, coordinated with the architectural and unit planning requirements to arrive at an efficient structural concept. This concept incorporated the careful placement structure walking through the top levels to enable the taper to be created while minimising transfers.
• Minor structural transfers were required through the upper levels, including the use of post-tensioned concrete, due to the tapering at the building’s crown, and the penthouse apartments over these levels requiring extensive planning changes.
• Major structural transfers were minimised to a single level at the top podium requiring further careful planning of the structure through the carpark and podium levels.
• The lateral load resisting system comprised an offset service core with engaged shear walls. The elliptical form, wind buffeting and the offset core (with a resulting offset centre of stiffness) lead to engineering challenges when designing the lateral system to meet all required serviceability criteria.
• Geotechnical conditions comprised compacted sands with a water table close to natural surface level. The project required three basements and due to the depth of permeable strata, cut off could not be economically achieved. As such, the basement slab and piled raft was designed for all hydrostatic forces.